Review of my AS Production

Synopsis
Mine, Lauren's, Ruari's, and Ciaran's production was about a young woman who is a werewolf but unaware she is. At first she seems like a vulnerable, weak, victim, but it become apparent further in that she is actually the attacker; a dangerous strong, independent character. In our film opening sequence our protagonist wakes up in her room and gets ready to go on a run while listening to the radio- explaining the recent attacks in the area, and the police warning which has been given to the public. Once she has left for her run, a suspicious man begins to follow her (making the audience curious and suspicious) - he begins to run, and then leaves the scene- a bit later he returns in the woods, at the same time the young woman finds a dead body. A twist occurs when instead of the creepy man being the threat, the young woman attacks the man. Throughout our media product, our protagonist does not speak, nor is there any voice-over, this means the focus is on the movements and actions in the scene, leaving the audience very curious as they do no know she is a werewolf.

Success of the piece

• Sound- compared to our AS preliminary task, out AS main task includes a variety of sound. In 'Hunters moon"we put a soundtrack over the sequence as it ensured continuous atmospheric sounds. It started with the radio voice-over, then a song, and then once Zoe left the house, the soundtrack faded in to imply the danger she is at, now she has left the house. Other sounds included in my media product included Foley sounds such as Zoe shutting the door, or her footsteps on different terrain when running, We stopped the soundtrack once Zoe had discovered the body as it intensified the concentration the audience were paying to what was happening in the scene; the natural foley sounds created suspense and a realistic experience for the audience, 
• Camera shots, Angles, Composition and movements- We used a variety of camera shots in our opening sequence, for example, when Zoe was running we were able to show off the knowledge we had gained that year from class by using match on action, birds eye and a reverse shot. An example of how our knowledge enabled the end result being effective is we used a birds eye view shot to introduce the suspicious male character; this shocks the audience, as this is an unusual shot to use when introducing a new character, therefore playing on film stereotypes and using that to surprise the audience.
•  Mise-en-scene - The mise-en-scene of 'Hunters moon' was successful due to the well thought out lighting, costumes, and actors. The lighting in the house was dark and gloomy to create tension for the audience, foreshadowing the future events being bad. This was then contrasted with the outside lighting which was bright, suggesting hope, but we made a conscious decision to use this to emphasis the fact that the main character has a normal life, and nothing is suggesting to her that the events about to arise are going to happen. The costume we chose for Lauren's character consisted of trainers, sports leggings, sports bra, loose top, and a running jacket, to fit with the fact the character was going for a run. The actors we chose fitted with our ideal appearance as we wanted the character 'Zoe' to come across as an innocent, weak character, being threatened by the other male character, who appeared as strong and sinister.
• Editing- the editing for 'Hunters moon' was a major part of ensuring that the atmosphere and story-line got across to the audience. Our final piece was continuous, involving multiple cuts to create tension and to keep the audience interested. We also used colour treatment to add to the overall appearance of the opening sequence, to further suggest the mood of the film to be a thriller/horror.